This invention relates to an apparatus for carrying and separating articles and, more particularly, to an apparatus for carrying and separating articles, which comprises a pair of conveying means, a plurality of conveying rods bridging the conveying means in a transversal direction crossing the carrying direction, a plurality of carriers each provided between adjacent carrying rods and movable in the transversal direction noted above and separating means, and which carries articles put on the carriers and also can sort them in different categories by moving them in a crosswise direction.
There is known a carrying apparatus, which carries such articles as packed foodstuff and canned goods and automatically sorts out rejected articles (e.g., insufficient weight, damaged package, etc.) among the carried articles detected in an inspection step.
Such an apparatus is disclosed in, for instance, Japanese Patent Publication No. 39,729/83. FIGS. 1 through 4 illustrate the disclosed apparatus. The apparatus comprises a pair of parallel and spaced-apart conveying means each including a pair of sprockets 1 and 2 and an endless roller chain 3 passed round these sprockets. The roller chains 3 of the carrying means are bridged by a plurality of carrying rods 4 which extend in a transversal direction crossing the carrying direction. Both ends of the carrying rods 4 are supported by the respective roller chains 3. The carrying rods 4 are coupled to the roller chains 3 by the engagement of pins 10 of the roller chains in engagement holes formed in the ends of the carrying rods. More specifically, each pin 10, which pivotally couples together adjacent links of each roller chain 3, has an inward extension extending sidewise, which is received in the corresponding engagement hole. A plurality of carriers 5 are each provided between adjacent carrying rods 4 in an engagement relation thereto and slidable relative thereto in the transversal direction. The carriers 5 each have a pair of drive pins 6 depending from the opposite ends. Separating means is provided beneath the carriers 5. The separating means includes a pair of separating guides 7 extending in a horizontal direction and at an angle to the carrying direction of the carriers 5. The separating guides 7 are each mounted at the rear end of a pin. They are rotatable in a vertical plane around their pins so that their front ends can be displaced in vertical directions.
This apparatus can carry articles, e.g., canned goods, which are transferred onto the carriers 5 from an inlet side conveyor 8. The separating guides 7, i.e., their front ends, are normally at a lower position, which is reached as a result of their rotation in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 1. In this state, the drive pins 6 depending from each carrier are not in engagement with the separating guides 7, so that the carrier 5 is moved only in the carrying direction to carry the canned good supported on it to a first outlet side conveyor 9A. When it is detected in an inspection step that the weight of the canned good is insufficient, one of the separating guides 7 is rotated in the clockwise direction by a corresponding signal, bringing its front end into engagement with the corresponding drive pin 6 of the carrier 5. As a result, the drive pin 6 is moved along the separating guide 7 in engagement with it, so that the carrier 5 is moved in a transversal direction as it is moved in the longitudinal direction, i.e., the carrying direction. The canned good having insufficient weight supported on this carrier 5 is thus transferred to a second outlet side conveyor 9B. When a damaged canned good is detected in the inspection step, the other separating guide 7 is rotated likewise by a corresponding signal. The pertinent carrier 5 this time thus is moved transversally in the opposite direction to that noted above. The rejected canned good is thus transferred to a third outlet side conveyor 9C.
The prior art apparatus as shown above, however, has a drawback that it produces great noise during operation. The noise is mostly produced from the portions where the roller chains 3 and carrying rods 4 are coupled to one another.
To prevent the generation of such noise, it has been contemplated to use, in lieu of the metal roller chains, belts made of an elastic material such as synthetic rubber. Where rubber belts are used, however, they will vary the distance between adjacent carrying rods with their elongation, contraction, flexing, etc. This will increase a gap between the carrier slidably engaged between adjacent carrying rods and these carrying rods, thus resulting in rattling. Or it will sometimes reduce the gap noted above, disabling smooth sliding of the carrier.